Todd Phillips developing John Belushi biopic, every fat actor in Hollywood named as potential star

According to Risky Business, The Hangover director Todd Phillips is developing a biopic about John Belushi with screenwriter Steven Conrad (The Pursuit Of Happyness), to be based on 2005’s oral history Belushi: A Biography by his widow Judith Belushi Pisano. And although there’s no script yet, and Phillips has yet to commit to anything beyond producing at this point, the Internet is already aflame with speculation as to which of Hollywood’s overweight comic actors should be saddled with the thankless task of taking on the gold standard of overweight comic actors.

Naturally, Phillips’ current muse Zach Galifianakis has been mentioned, as well as Jack Black, despite the fact that both men are 40—seven years older than Belushi was when he checked out of the Chateau Marmont for good. Black, for one, has already been fairly vocal about never wanting to play Belushi, as when he answered the obligatory, “Hey, you’re funny and fat—wanna play Belushi?” question in 2008 with, “His life is not as funny as his work, and watching me do an imitation of him doing his Saturday Night Live bits won't be as funny as watching him do his SNL bits.” (Though this is not to suggest that Jack Black has standards.)

Among the other candidates we’ve already seen bandied about: Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, and Ethan Suplee—none of whom particularly resemble Belushi in either size or sensibility, but are all fat and funny and therefore apparently perfect for playing Belushi, Fatty Arbuckle, Oliver Hardy, Lou Costello, Lardy McChuckles, Jokey Van Manboobs, or any other jolly old role Hollywood might require. Among the other candidates who may not prove to be totally awkward: Tyler Labine (late of Reaper and Sons Of Tucson), who actually played Belushi once before in the 2005 TV movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy, and whose own persona has yet to develop to the point where it could prove distracting. There's also Horatio Sanz (though he may have to start eating carbs again) or Bobby Moynihan, who already has some experience filling the de facto Belushi slot on SNL. Or what the hell: Grab Michael Chiklis and have him reprise his role from 1989’s Wired. Maybe they’ll get it right this time.